Interior Minister Arsen Avakov accused ex-President Petro Poroshenko of protecting pro-Kremlin politicians for personal gain.
In an interview with journalist Dmytro Gordon, published on March 2, Avakov confirmed previous reports that Poroshenko intentionally saved two pro-Kremlin TV channels – NewsOne and Channel 112 – from sanctions in 2018.
President Volodymyr Zelensky shut down NewsOne, Channel 112, and ZIK on Feb. 2. All the channels are officially owned by a pro-Kremlin lawmaker Taras Kozak, but his ally Viktor Medvedchuk is widely believed to be the de facto owner. Both Medvedchuk and Kozak were slapped with sanctions, too.
Poroshenko came under criticism for not imposing sanctions against pro-Kremlin politicians and their media during his rule, especially in 2018, when a plan to sanction Medvedchuk’s TV channels was considered by the National Security and Defense Council.
Avakov, who is a member of the Council and was present at the meeting in 2018, said that Poroshenko had all the required information to impose sanctions against Medvedchuk, leader of the 44-member Opposition Platform – For Life faction, yet he declined to act. Avakov refused to say why, hinting that it was for personal gain.
“He had more than enough reasons (to impose sanctions),” said Avakov. “Why didn’t he do it then? He had his reasons.”
Avakov, however, never raised the matter before, only tuning in the criticism of Poroshenko now.
Poroshenko denied that he protected Medvedchuk, and said that he didn’t impose the sanctions on Medvedchuk’s media to avoid looking like he attacks the freedom of speech, especially with the next presidential election in sight.
But Avakov said that Poroshenko protected Medvedchuk more than once.
According to Avakov, sanctions against Medvedchuk’s business were to be discussed during the last Cabinet meeting of then Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk in spring 2016. But it didn’t happen — and he blames Poroshenko for it.
“Poroshenko broke the quorum by ordering ministers appointed on behalf of his party to not attend the Cabinet meeting, thus, contributing to the fact that sanctions were not imposed,” said Avakov.
In 2016, the government was in talks of imposing sanctions against Medvedchuk for taking hold of Prikarpatzahidtrans, a pipeline that transports oil products from Russia through western Ukraine to Europe.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the pipeline was acquired by Russia but later a court transferred it to the Ukrainian government.
However, in 2015, a court in Rivne Oblast gave the pipeline back to Russia’s state-controlled Transneft.
In 2015, Transneft sold Prikarpatzahidtrans to International Trading Partners, which is owned by German citizen Anatoly Shefer. Ukraine’s Anti-Monopoly Committee, which was controlled by the allies of Poroshenko, authorized the acquisition.
Shefer has had some business connections to Medvedchuk.
In 2019, Ukraine’s Anti-Monopoly Committee also allowed Belarus’ Oil and Bitumen Plant to acquire a stake in Prikarpatzahidtrans. The decision was drafted by Andriy Vovk, who had previously worked at Poroshenko’s Ukrprominvest group.
The second fact brought up by Avakov concerned the December 2018 National Security and Defense Council, which was conducted to impose sanctions against Medvedchuk’s TV channels.
According to Avakov, the topic of sanctions was removed by Poroshenko.
“We were gathered to impose sanctions against the two channels, however, an interesting metamorphosis occurred when instead of sanctions against NewsOne and Channel 112, which were sent for revision, Nash channel has popped up instead,” said Avakov, who was part of that meeting.
According to the transcript of that meeting, which Kyiv Post has hold of, Avakov said that Nash was affiliated with oligarch Rinat Akhmetov. Withdrawing Medvedchuk’s channels but sanctioning Akhmetov’s would be seen as taking sides, he said at the meeting.
There is no official connection between Nash and Akhmetov.
In 2018, when Medvedchuk’s three news channels became among the most-watched in Ukraine the parliament decided to act.
In October 2018, the parliament voted to impose sanctions against pro-Kremlin media, primarily those controlled by Medvedchuk. However, the National Security and Defense Council, under Poroshenko’s leadership didn’t gather until late December.
On Dec. 26, 2018, during the National Security and Defense Council meeting, Poroshenko asked the Council to withhold sanctions until further notice, according to the transcription of the meeting obtained by the Kyiv Post. Poroshenko never signed sanctions against Medvedchuk’s media empire.
